Many times has the following scenario been encountered. A group of patrons dining at a restaurant receive the bill, and then go through the complicated task of determining how much each patron owes on the bill, including applicable tax and an allotted portion of the gratuity to be paid to the wait staff. Moreover, many restaurants and bars do not accept separate payments for items on a single bill, mostly because splitting a bill often results in errors and in taking time away from the wait staff being able to serve other customers within the restaurant.
Thus, there is a need to address these competing interests, whereby the patrons are able to split a bill without such a process unduly burdening the wait staff, and adversely impacting the restaurant's efficiency.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,933,812 to Meyer, et al. provides a portable transaction terminal system which provides for complete data entry at the guest table of an eating and drinking establishment. The terminal has the facility for entering all the information needed to complete the transaction, including the server's gratuity. This portable transaction terminal system is nothing more than the credit card payment devices found at almost every commercial establishment, such as grocery stores, permitting a total bill to be paid using a patron's credit card. Meyer, et al. provides an additional functionality in permitting the patron to pay a gratuity in addition to the total bill. What Meyer, et al. does not disclose is an ability for the bill to be split among the various patrons at a table and for each of such patrons to individually pay their desired portion using a credit card.